THE SIGHT BELOW
TEXT: Neil Levens  |||   PHOTO: Bob Hansen

Ambient may be one of the easiest types of music to make, and arguably the hardest to make well. Amidst a veritable horde of sonic texturers, manipulators, and laptop artists, a handful always manage to stay a few steps ahead, creating new paradigms almost as quickly as they drop them for others to pick up along the way. Seattle's Rafael Anton Irisarri stands as one of the new landmark artists of the contemporary ambient and neo-classical genres, his catalog consistent in its quality and vision.

”¨”¨Irisarri's most recent work with The Sight Below is a hybrid of what Philip Glass, Seefeel, Sigur Ros and Christian Fennesz were doing for some time, but pushed to its limits and expanded in expressive scope. All of this done by one man — at least in the studio. As Irisarri has matured and his confidence in sound design has grown, he has moved away from hovering over the repetitive kick-drum dance pattern that featured so prominently in his first release for Ghostly International, Glider, and 2008's free EP, No Place For Us. Its restrained use on 2010’s It All Falls Apart manages to further blur The Sight Below's intent from ambient to abstract electronic. ”¨

ӬFor the new album Irisarri expanded his palette from just effects laden guitars to a whole host of other instruments such as horns, the occasional synth wash and even voices (just try and find them). The heavy wash that results is at once subtle and overwhelming, intimate but expansive; emotional music that takes the shape of whatever the listener imprints upon it.Ӭ

ӬLive, Irisarri manages to overcome the hurdle of throwing easy dance beats to the floor, engaging his audience rather than entertaining them. His performance on May 12th this year at the Triple Door in Seattle demonstrated a whole new, improvisational aspect to The Sight Below. Along with a pianist and drummer as accompaniment, Irisarri created an astonishingly powerful set that managed to surpass the rest of the bill that night, a collection of music that wasn't so much played as it evolved. Ӭ

ӬIrisarri's reliance upon computer, guitar, and the moment elevated the experience to a whole new plateau of energy and aural euphoria. This new, more organic arrangement is hopefully a glimpse of things to come for The Sight Below and Irisarri's work in general.



PRESS

“Irisarri has crafted seven tracks that cover an astounding range of visceral sonic possibilities.” –XLR8R

“With The Sight Below [Irisarri] stretches the boundaries of pop music to flirt with much more openly experimental angles.” –The Milk Factory

“The ghost of shoegaze lingers throughout the seven unhurried tracks of It All Falls Apart. It’s an album of glacial drifts and quivering tones, realized with laptops and synths as much as subtle guitar shaped by looping delay and reverb.” –The Seattle Weekly


Read the Groovemine review of It All Falls Apart.


MP3

“Fervent” from It All Falls Apart



TOUR

July 09, 2010 • San Francisco, CA • The Mezzanine
July 10, 2010 • Los Angeles, CA • TS3



LINKS

+The Sight Below on Myspace
+The Sight Below on Facebook